An army of 2,500 volunteers placed American flags at 120,000 grave sites Sunday morning at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.
The entire well-orchestrated effort took less than two hours.
Vehicles full of volunteers coming from north and south clogged the exit ramp for the cemetery. Traffic was backed up for miles.
This first-of-its-kind event at the cemetery was coordinated through Flags for Fallen Vets. Similar efforts were staged Sunday at veterans’ cemeteries in Dallas and Houston.
A bus from Villages Transportation and the Realty Executives van transported about 70 Villages volunteers assigned to Section 605 in the cemetery.
Each volunteer was armed with two dozen flags and specific instruction on how to place the flag and speak the name of the deceased soldier.
The Villages volunteer work flow was so perfectly choreographed that they were finished in 15 minutes with their section. Many spilled over and started helping place flags in neighboring cemetery sections.
“This is wonderful, awe-inspiring,” said Barbara Reynolds of Polo Ridge. “I am just flabbergasted.”
The Villages volunteers were organized by Marguerite Desbrow of the Village of Duval.
Her son Michael served in the Air Force and is buried at a veterans cemetery in San Antonio.
The first flag she placed was at the grave of Purple Heart recipient Gary Kent who served in Vietnam and died in 2008.
She burst into tears when she recited his name.
“Say ‘hi’ to my Michael for me,” she said.
Villager Belia Kulick said she wanted to take part in the massive volunteer effort to honor her nephew John Kulick who was killed in Iraq nine years ago when his Humvee ran over an improvised explosive device.
“He was a fireman and just a fun guy,” she said. “He collected 300 pairs of shoes for children in Iraq.”
He is buried in Pennsylvania, but she thought she could honor his memory by paying tribute to fellow fallen soldiers here.
Village of Amelia resident Wanda Fix’s brother is buried in Section 606.
So she wandered over to that section to visit her brother’s grave. An Air Force veteran, he died in 2010.
“He was my little brother. He was my favorite brother,” she said.
Debbie Okruhlica of Realty Executives said she was proud to be part of the event.
“We were excited to do this for our veterans and consider it a privilege,” she said.
